Has anyone done a survey of alternate construction techniques and
materials for an elevated live steam track? I'm doing the planning for
one of my own and would like to learn from other's experiences.
In recent visits to steam ups I've seen the following variations:
Uprights:
a. Steel pipe,
b. 4x4 wood posts,
c. plastic water pipe
Height adjustment:
a. Telescoping steel pipe with drilled bolt locations,
b. wooden shims between posts on top,
c. threaded plastic pipe fittings
Stringers between posts:
a. Bender board (garden border wood strips),
b. redwood or fir1x4's,
c. rolled aluminum 1x2's
Top:
a. 3/4" Plywood,
b. 1x1 crosswise strips of redwood fastened to stringers
Weather protection:
a. Roofing material,
b. polyurethane sealant on the plywood (or whatever magic stuff
Jon Bloom put on his track)
c. redwood
I haven't seen any articles in SitG or GRwy discussing this topic. Lots
of info on ground level electric GRwys but nothing on elevated live
steam RRs.
It seems to me that figures-of-merit of the various techniques are:
1. Stability: Track stays levels and unwarped in spite of temperature,
humidity, aging
2. Ease of construction
3. Cost
4. Ease of modification - height adjustment to deal with settling and
warping and also ease of adding sidings, additional loops
Thanks for any ideas and opinions
